Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup gives verdict on Leeds United and Ao Tanaka decision — Leeds United News 23/1/25
Will Butcher
Leeds United secured a 17th Championship win of the season
in their 28th outing with a win over Norwich City, as Daniel Farke remains
unbeaten against his old side.
It was the sixth time that Leeds and Daniel Farke have done
battle with the German’s old club since he took over at Elland Road. He has
four wins, two draws and four clean sheets during that run of matches.
On Wednesday night, goals from Manor Solomon and Dan James
did the trick. A comfortable win for Leeds that sees Farke’s men return to the
top of the Championship table with 18 games left to play.
But, it could have been different. With the scoreline
reading 1-0, Ao Tanaka went steaming into a tackle while on a yellow card and
could have seen red. He got away with it, and Farke subbed him off soon after.
Clearly, there was some frustration and aggression between
the two managers over the Tanaka incident at the time. Thorup responded
bizarrely by throwing his arms in the air and goading the Elland Road crowd.
Farke accused Norwich of targeting Tanaka, with the Leeds
manager describing the Japan star as “naive”. Now, Thorup says he spoke to
referee Matthew Donohue after the game about a red card for Tanaka.
“Tanaka red card? I had a word with the ref afterwards, I
needed an explanation. It was a big call. But that was not why we lost the game
– of course it could have changed it,” Thorup told reporters post match.
Leeds dominated the match, right up until Tanaka’s possible
second yellow card and after it even. Norwich failed to register any kind of
meaningful XG and failed to have a single shot on target.
But Thorup felt his Norwich side shared courage: “Difficult
one. We didn’t get off to the best start. After that was showed some good
courage. It was game where we had to defend and not open up too much.
“They found spaces to provoke us. My players did what they
could. It’s fair to say we are not in a position to go away against Leeds and
say we need to win,” Thorup said. Ultimately, Leeds deserved to win.